life and puppies

I miss Gracie. A lot. But it’s been over a year since she’s been gone and, for better or worse, I think Phoebe is here to stay. She’s still a lot and I still wouldn’t recommend getting a puppy when you have a two-year-old (or maybe ever), but we do love her. Especially on Friday nights when she’s had the chance to run off her puppy energy in day care. So, I changed the header. It’s been Gracie up there since I started this thing in 2007. I love you, Grace. And welcome, Phoebe.

Heather once told me that, in her experience, each new phase with a kid is better than the last one. But I also know that there’s a debate among parents as to whether having a two-year-old is actually easier than a three-year-old. I’m currently in the Heather Camp, but oy vey is someone being a pistol lately. And I don’t mean AO. Or Phoebe.

Things Molly currently says too frequently, too loudly, too weirdly, or all three:

• “Stop talking!!”
• “Go faster!!” (whether we are in the car or, very annoyingly, when I was running a 5k recently and pushing her in the stroller).
• “I want a different dress!!”
• “I don’t want to go to bed!!”
• “I like this chicken, but not that chicken” when making the exact same gesture with her hands and there is no chicken in sight.
• “That’s too many arms” upon seeing a giant animated spider on the telly in an old Disney short.
• “MOMMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
• “DADDY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
• “Stop it, Phoebe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

I was at a conference for most of last week and last night we hosted Bear’s best friend and her parents for dinner. The conference was fine and the dinner was fun, but they’ve both left me spent. Being an introvert leaves me feeling pretty drained after lots of socialization. So, we decided to take today as a day of rest. Or, really, I did. Aaron did some grocery shopping and mowed the lawn. I enjoyed the rain and watching too many episodes of Friends.

Molly seemed pretty tuckered for most of the day, too, but recently pepped up and has spent the last hour or so running in and out of the backyard. Her cheeks are rosy and her smile is large. About two minutes ago, she came running in and said to me, “Where’s Phoebe?” I pointed to the couch. She said to me, “Phoebe’s friend is outside.” Then she walked over to Phoebe and got within inches of her nose and said to her, “Phoebe, your friend is outside!” She then went to the back door, opened it, waited for Phoebe to join her and the two of them went bounding out. Maybe Bear and Phoebe will be pals after all.

I have no idea what in the hell is going on. This morning, I got a ridiculously chipper call from Jennifer that a specialty scheduler would be calling me to schedule my tests. I asked her when she thought this special call would come. She said she imagined that it’d be today, but she couldn’t be sure. Sure. I waited. And waited. And waited.

Finally, just a few short moments ago, I steeled myself and called my doctor’s office. I said that while I didn’t know whom I should be talking to about this insanity, I’d been waiting to have tests scheduled for some time and I’d really like to get moving on it. She asked my name and date of birth and then … guess what? She transferred me to neurology and a very competent woman quickly took charge. She got two more people on the phone and within about one minute my EEG was scheduled (May 27) and my follow-up neurology appointment was scheduled, as well (June 3). I have to wait until maybe Monday to get an MRI appointment (something about something that I didn’t understand), but I have more faith in the unknown woman who said that she would call me back about it than I have had in any of these voices on the other end of the phone in sometime.

So, there you have it. Just. Keep. Calling. And calling. And calling.

UPDATE: And then, just because the story has to keep going, the Specialty Scheduler just called and offered me the May 27 appointment for the EEG. When I told her that I had already taken that one, she said, “Oh, they called you!” Uh, no. Definitely not. When she asked if I needed anything else from her, I said, “Well, I think I still need an MRI appointment.” Her response? “Someone else will be calling you about that.”

Today (or I guess really as of tomorrow morning), we cut the cord, as the kids are saying. Though I guess the kids actually never had anything to do with the cord in the first place. What am I talking about, Mom?

WE CANCELED CHARTER.

That’s right. After a harrowing phone call during which I almost caved, I have cut off our cable service. We’ve switched to AT&T’s U-verse internet, which is cheaper and slower, and we’re going to go with rabbit ears, Netflix, Hulu and HBO Now. I know this is not a perfect solution for a TV junkie like me, but the $183.53 monthly bills are just no longer tolerable. I’ve had Charter for 10 years and there’s never any reward from them for sticking with them. OnDemand works maybe 50% of the time. We have to reset the modem every other week. We watch a ton of Netflix anyway. And it’s just too damn expensive! I’m really worried about how we will watch live sports, but that’s not as much of a concern in the summer. So, for now, this is who we are. Eeks!

The cost chart:

Charter Silver package with fast internet: $183.53 per month. Our price includes HBO, Showtime and Cinemax and tons of HD channels. And one DVR box. We also have been paying $8.43 per month for Netflix, making our total monthly TV and internet costs $191.96 or – gasp! – $2303.52 per year.

Our new life: $31.95 for internet (plus tax, so I’m not sure yet of the total number) + $8.43 for Netflix + $15 for HBO Now + $7.99 for Hulu = $55.38 per month or $664.56 per year, a savings of $1638.96. I suppose that number should be adjusted for whatever the cost of our antennae will be, but it’s still a super significant savings.

I figure that even if we end up going back to Charter for internet, we’ll end up with a better deal than we had because they reward new customers, not long-term ones.

So, away we go!